Friday, November 30, 2012

Items are scheduled to arrive tomorrow but you know Target. The price point is $7.99 for Rodarte wrapping paper to $99.99 Marchesa dresses for girls. There are too many goodies to list them all but these are on my wishlist.

I need that Marc Jacobs pouch in gold and that Derek Lam skateboard for Liv...

Okay, so we don't have a dog...now, but we plan on getting one in the future and they are going to need a bowl. Who can say their dog has an Oscar de la Renta water bowl?

These Brian Atwood leather studded gloves are more Aimee-style than me. I'm disappointed he didn't included any of his signature pumps in this collection.

Of course I wouldn't be able to walk 3 steps in heels this high but every woman has a shoe fantasy and this man makes the most gorgeous shoes

I'm going to Target tomorrow just to browse and see what kind of madness ensues. I wish I can say I'll be loading up my cart but I'm just about done with my holiday shopping. I've got two kitchens to plan *ours and Liv's* and I know when to quit while I'm ahead. Besides, I have this lovely gift to stare at.

Some sale scores are too awesome to keep secret. I saw a post by Kate Spade on facebook late night last Monday *it really does pay to follow your fave designers on fb* about their site having technical difficulties due to the huge cyber-Monday sale. I was intrigued but had no intention to buy anything but when I saw the very first item on the home page, my jaw hit the floor. Back in August I was hunting everywhere for this sold out bag. Ebay had a bunch but they were selling for $350 and they looked like fakes. I even emailed customer support to ask if any stores might have them in stock or had any returns. They pretty much told me, "Sorry sweetie, you snooze, you lose." So when our anniversary came around, I didn't get the gift I'd hoped for *although the amazing pop up dinner and a surprise trip to Disneyland definitely made up for it* Not only was it the infamous Eat Cake for Breakfast bag but it was on super cyber sale marked down from the original $248 price tag. Say Whaaa?

kate spade new york 'call to action - terry' tote

I'm so freaking excited to get this guy *it's supposed to arrive tomorrow evening*. It is an iconic bag and so minimalistic. It's big enough to carry all my junk and I got it on S A L E!! High five to me.There are some new versions of it available on the Kate Spade website but if you ask me, they aren't as cute.

I tell him I'll buy it either on Black Friday or after Christmas when it's on clearance. Yet, I seem to talk myself out of it when I start to think about the big picture. We hope to sell this house and buy a new bigger house that will accommodate a six foot tree. Then there's the price tag. The six foot tree comes with 500 lights is regularly priced $438. Insane, I know, which is why the clearance price of $168 seems so reasonable, right? I usually spend $15 on a cute Charlie Brown sized tree from Fresh & Easy. It's tiny enough to sit on our congas and we have just enough ornaments to give it some charm. It's a nice compliment to my Grandma's porcelain tree *that still plays Silent Night*

I check every year on Black Friday and Cyber Monday but the lowest it's ever gotten is $148. Then I have to add $58 for a tree stand with wheels. I'd have to invest in a Christmas tree bag to keep it stored in the garage, that's another $59. I haven't even started a budget for ornaments. Anthro is killing me with these beauties...

Hopefully these guys will go on sale after Christmas but I'm certain they will be gone by then. So this is my annual dilemma; Break my holiday shopping budget on my dream tree which will barely fit in our current house. Or wait until we buy our new house and go all out for our first Christmas and face the risk the most of these items will be sold out in 3 years. That swan ornament reminds me of my lovely Björk. I'm sure she would tell me to buy it in her sweet little Icelandic elfy voice. Have you lovelies trimmed the Christmas tree yet? Do you buy a fresh cut tree or you have an artificial tree you've had for years? My reasoning tells me it's a lifetime investment but knowing how often I change my mind, I just may want to get this awesome guy next year.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Antz and I have been talking about our kitchen renovation we're planning this spring and yesterday we asked a realtor to come over to give us a professional assessment. He told us it only makes sense that we replace the cabinets with new Ikea ones. The price is about $2000 but our 89 year old cabinets will look horrible, even with a new paint job and fancy new handles and knobs. I've been checking out the catalog and we are thinking of going with the Akurum/Applad series.

Here's an example of the cabinets from Pinterest

This is similar to our layout with an L-Shape. I want an apron front double sink and a dishwasher. I keep going back and forth between wanting to stay on a under $6,000 budget and wanting a really nice kitchen for more. We're gonna bite the bullet and pay Ikea to install them since, A. our house is so darn crooked it would be impossible for us to figure out how to install them properly and B. we are handy but not that handy. I feel more comfortable doing the subway tile backsplash and painting ourselves.

I'm increasing our budget to $8,000 but for a brand new kitchen, having our plumbing repaired and getting the floors refinished, that's a bargain. Speaking of bargains, I found the steal of century online tonight but it's a Christmas gift so I'll share it next month. Since we are getting a new kitchen, I thought Liv would like one too. We're buying her a mini kitchen set but I plan to add a personal crafty touch. I am still waiting for the Melissa & Doug food sets to go on sale on Amazon but so far the price has only increased and decreased by a few dollars.

We had such a fun weekend. We caught up with family and friends and ate so much.

We've been so busy we never had a chance to watch Moonrise Kingdom but Liv did watch Cinderella. She liked it, particularly the mice. I have Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter from Netflix but I heard it's pretty lame. Thank goodness next week isn't super booked. Antz is taking Friday off so we can have a consultation at Ikea about the kitchen and we can get started on Liv's kitchen. Oh! Antz put up the Holiday decorations in the house this morning. We'll put up the outdoor decorations next weekend.

My Grandma's 65 year old Porcelain Christmas tree is holding up well.

Have you started holiday shopping and decorating yet? Here's how the bedding looks, I love it!

Friday, November 23, 2012

We just finished the last of our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner leftovers and I am stuffed. We usually go to Antz Mom's house for dinner but this year his brother Charles hosted the huge family.

My sister and nephew

Olivia had the best time running after her older cousins and eating sweet potatoes. I even made jalapeno cornbread muffins. Once again I totally forgot to capture the lovely meal but that usually means I'm too focused on eating to remember to grab my camera. I did get a family photo and my camera remote actually worked this time even though I had to run into the shot about 5 times. Huzzah!

Antz has promised to center it, and zoom in so you can actually see all our lovely faces

Anthropologie bummed me out this year since they aren't carrying children's clothes and instead of the Black Friday 50% off, they are only offering 25%. Old Navy surprised me with this gem. I snagged the last one in stock online.

It's sold out now

I did score some home goodies from Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond. I wasn't planning on going to the store but since I saw everything I wanted was in stock and they were offering 20% off your entire purchase, I took the trip. It was surprisingly calm in the store. No one was fighting over towels and I didn't arrive to a shop that looked like it had been looted after an apocalypse. I browsed the bedding section

I love this Kate Spade pillow

The sale is in-store only

...and found the complete Orla Kiely set I've been wanting for months on clearance, along with the 20% coupon, I saved $100 off the set. I'm short one sham pillowcase but that's what happens when you have 3 standard pillows and pillowcases are sold in a set of 2.

I am the only person with a phobia about putting new bedding on the bed?

I couldn't be happier and to my delightful surprise Antz brings me a package from Amazon. I completely forgot I pre-ordered Moonrise Kingdom and Cinderella last month. Liv hasn't seen Cinderella and Antz hasn't seen Moonrise Kingdom so we'll watch them over the weekend.

Doesn't today feel like a Sunday? What a rad holiday we've had so far. I think I'll pick up a pumpkin pie since we finished our leftovers. We're just chillin'!

Hello!

Welcome to my blog. I'm married to Antz, we have a lovely four year old daughter and a giant cat named Lola. We live in a California bungalow in hipster Highland Park, Northeast Los Angeles. I have a cosmetology license but now I stay home playing with Liv.

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Welcome to My Life List

Here is my *overly ambitious* list of things I hope to accomplish during my lifetime. Some of these are total dreams of mine that may be far-fetched but others are quite possible and I am currently in the process of completing.